Local business helps travelers hit the road during National Camping Week
CBS 58 GLENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- June 21 through June 27 is National Camping Week. It's meant to encourage people to spend time outside connecting with nature. One local business helps camping enthusiasts take their experience to the next level. In 2026, camping can still mean amenities.
Orion Motors creates fully customized camper vans.
"The beds that we have move out of the way on power lifts and they drop down when you want to sleep-- super easy to do. The seats move around in there; you can configure them however you like. We have a couch that folds up in the wall when you're not using it, folds down when you are," said Brian Dondlinger.
Brian and Heidi Dondlinger are co-founders of Orion Motors. They started it in 2020 during the peak or Covid. It was their engineering background and their own desires to travel as a family that sparked the idea.
"We bought a crashed [...] delivery van. We did all these prototypes in there. We sat with the family and talked about what we want to have. What we don't want to have. It was kind of fun to do that prototype," said Heidi.
Now they create similar custom designs for people all over the country.
"I think what we find is most of our customers are multi-activity customers, so they love to camp but its 'camping and'. That's the common theme running through it. So, camping and riding bikes or camping and racing motorcycles," said Brian.
The versatile designs allow for the vans to be used for more than camping. They can also double as cargo vans for families or athletes who travel a lot.
